Ordered as Mayflower Acquired 25 May 1864 Out of service 12 June 1864 Launched 1864 Weight 175.8 tons | Laid down date unknown Commissioned June 1864 Struck 1864 (est.) Length 34 m Draft 2.29 m | |
USS Lavender (1864) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy as a tugboat.
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Lavender, a tug built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1864 as Mayflower, was purchased there by the Navy 25 May 1864.
Assigned to the South Atlantic Blockade
Ordered to proceed off Charleston, South Carolina, for duty with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Lavender, acting Master John H. Gleason in command, departed the Delaware Capes 11 June.
Lavender strikes a reef and is wrecked
Shortly before midnight on the 12th, she struck a reef off North Carolina during a severe squall. Efforts to get her free were thwarted when water entered her engine room and put out her fires. The wooden steamer was completely wrecked and nine of her crew were lost before Army steamer John Farrow rescued 14 survivors three days later.